Nigeria Equity Watch | 14 July 2015 : Inflation numbers further dampened investors sentiment today…

Lagos, Nigeria (Capital Markets in Africa) —The release of negative inflation numbers (Headline 9.2% y/y) further dampened investors sentiment today(ASI –0.81%), extending the index loss for the tenth consecutive session. Tier I banks were the most hit as investors offloaded shares of Zenith(-3.97%), Guaranty(-1.53%) and FBNH(-1.52%). On the flip side, a combination of foreign buying and thinning offers helped lift prices of ETI(+2.69%) and UBA(+2.38%). Consumers were also down, Flourmill(-4.85%), NB(-0.60%) and UACN(-0.73%) dropped amid increasing offers. Cement counters traded flat.

 Activities were again skewed to blocks, turnover of N4.45 billion ($22.08 million) was boosted by block trades of 104 million Zenith ($9.5 million), 6.0 million Nigerian Breweries shares ($3.9 million) and 2.5 million Dangcem ($2.0 million). Market breadth was extremely negative at the close with over (4) stocks dropping for every (1) advancing. There’s an glut of offers in the market hence we don’t expect a change in the current trend in coming sessions accumulation.

Sectoral performance within the market was also poor as all trended southwards. The Banking index dipped the most (-1.2%) against the backdrop of losses in ZENITH (-3.9%) and GT BANK (-1.5%) followed by the Consumer goods and Oil & Gas indices 0.8% apiece on price depreciation in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-0.6%) and OANDO (-4.9%). Likewise, the Industrial Goods and Insurance indices capped off the poor performance, marginally losing 20bps each.